(AFP, FARNBOROUGH) - Dubai's Emirates airline signed a contract on Monday for seven Airbus A3XX super jumbo airliners with an option for five more, Airbus Industrie announced at the air show here.

Airbus Industrie recently launched official sales of the aircraft, which would be the biggest airliner ever built, and is expected to make an announcement in December that it has encountered enough interest to justify full launch of the programme.

The president of Airbus Industrie, Noel Forgeard, said: "I am sure that many other airlines will follow the Emirates' lead in becoming a launch customer for the A3XX and share the same vision, and showing the success of the programme."

Of the seven outline orders, five are for passenger airliners and two are for freight aircraft.

The airline would take delivery of the passenger version in February 2006 and thof the freight aircraft in the pring of 2008.

The outline agreement was signed here by the president of the Emirates airline, Ahmed Bin Said al-Maktoum and by Forgeard.